Chapter Text
It had been roughly two weeks since the four Warrior Candidates had been sent away to the frontlines and Levi was left bored and unsure of what to do next, he still did his usual routine of cleaning the apartment, working out so he kept in shape and still attended his therapy sessions whenever they were scheduled but that was about all he had left to do here. He was starting to feel restless and knew he needed to find an outlet for it sooner rather than later, Ackermans were never ones to stand around and do nothing Levi had found out, in that regard he and Mikasa were very alike, back on Paradis it wouldn't be uncommon for Levi and Mikasa to both be the last ones to leave the training grounds in the evening.
But now Levi was struggling to occupy his time productively, Paradis was the polar opposite to Liberio, back home the enemy was literally knocking on the doors trying to get in leaving very little time to rest, in Liberio however, the fighting was taking place a whole ocean away from here.
"Tch no wonder the people here have no problem glorifying war" Levi thought to himself as he read the newspaper Hange had picked up this morning, all talking about how Marley's valiant soldiers were trampling the enemy underfoot and how the Warriors were an unstoppable force to anyone that got in their way. Levi scoffed at the paper as he read more of the news.
It was easy to glorify war when you are too far away to smell the blood and death that resulted in the aftermath of a battle. Levi could remember those days well, when he would return with less than half the men he had set off with, he still remembered the bloody, lifeless expressions of his old squad after their fight with the Female Titan and he remembered how in order to save what little survivors they had left he had ordered soldiers to dump the bodies of his fallen comrades just to buy them a little more time to escape from the clutches of the titans who were gaining on them. He still remembered the guilt he felt seeing Petra's body being tossed off the wagon after he had made that decision, he was supposed to be the one to protect them but his squad had died for a little brat that had changed into a barely recognisable person these days.
Eren had changed so much since then it scared him a little, how the angry kid wanting revenge for what the titans had done to his mother had turned into a reserved, despondent man who even Levi couldn't read anymore was beyond him, but somehow he understood his frustrations with the way Paradis had been run, it had always annoyed him how the MPs and the pompous fucks that were in charge got all the praise and were revered to most as heroes, when it was the Scouts that risked their lives every day for humanity and their right to freedom and got next to no recognition for it until the reclamation of Wall Maria.
Even then Levi had learned the hard way that despite their victory and the publics renewed support in the Scouts, there would always be people who would hate them even after everything they had been through to achieve that goal, he had the scars to prove it and had even lost hope as a result of his treatment there for so long and he suspected that Eren had thought the same, especially after his fathers memories of how other Eldians had been treated here.
Levi was brought out of his train of thought by a knock on the door he got up to answer it and found a Marleyan soldier standing outside the apartment.
"Can I help you?" he asked the man who was looking him up and down like he was a piece of meat he had just carved up
"General Maggath would like to speak to you in private" he instructed Levi who nodded in response
"I see I will make my way there now, thank you" he replied curtly
"I'm sorry sir I'm to escort you there to save time" the soldier told him
"Very well, lead the way then" Levi sighed, he was hoping he could have gone alone that way he would have had time to clear his head on the way.
He followed the soldier to where he was taking him and they ended up entering an Internment zone to save some time walking to Maggath's office the long way round, Levi hated the Internment zones they reminded him too much of the Underground, the way these Eldians had to live appalled him as he looked at the amount of unclean, starving people were here.
"Hey, watch where your going, you damn devils" the soldier escorting him barked at two kids who had ran in front of him, nearly tripping him up, he raised a hand to hit one of them but Levi quickly intervened and grabbed his hand, holding it in place tightly making the man hiss in pain.
"I don't think there is any need to hit them just for running into you now is there?" Levi told him in a deadly calm voice before shoving him out of the way and kneeling down in front of the children who looked at him in shock "Are you two brats alright?" he asked them softly
"Ye...yes sir" one of them stuttered nervously
"Good now make sure you look where your going next time alright" Levi told them sternly but kindly and they nodded sheepishly
"Sorry sirs" they both said in unison
"You brats look hungry, here take this and buy yourself some food" Levi ordered them before giving them some money, before the other soldier could protest Levi sent him a glare to silence him before turning his attention back on the two boys in front of him.
"Woah, thank you sir" the older boy said before they ran off to the market nearby excitedly
Levi watched them go as he stood up a few other Eldians stood around them in shock before the soldier escorting him had to ruin it
"What are you devils all looking at, get back to work all of you!" he bellowed at them making them all scramble away frantically making Levi sigh in disappointment at his behaviour.
"You should do better to remember that these people are devils sir, they are not to be trusted" he reminded Levi sternly making Levi scoff
"I've been surrounded by dangerous people my entire life, was trained and raised by the worse of the worse to fight and survive in a shithole similar to this one, I know a bad person when I see one and these people are the furthest away from that that I have ever seen" Levi retorted as he walked away.
"Even so sir, all these people are subjects of Ymir and could reek havoc if they wanted to many Marleyans lost their lives to these devils and their titan forms in the Great Titan War, if we slip up now they could gain an opportunity to rise up and oppress us all again" he argued marching up to him again to lead the way again.
"Tch right like your all doing to them now" Levi thought in disgust but bit his tongue from saying anything like that instead saying "Tch I doubt two boys their age are going to be thinking about taking down Marley, besides they can't turn into titans without that syringe you keep, unless there's another Titan Shifter hiding here" Levi pointed out.
"Just don't get too comfortable around them sir, they might seem harmless but you never know what they're capable of" he warned Levi again.
"I'll take my chances, I'm sure I can handle it" Levi told him in amusement, if only this man knew exactly who he was talking to right now. If he was back on Paradis nobody would even think twice about Levi doing anything let alone question him like this man had been "Anyway, now the excitement is all over shall we continue our walk, I'd hate to keep the General waiting any longer" Levi suggested gesturing for the soldier to lead the way.
"Yes sir, right away" he agreed walking him towards Maggath's office at a faster pace